The Shifters: part one of three
by Felira X Nyxa
Summary: They always thought of Team Alpha as friends and protectors. However, one day, one of the shapeshifters finds some shocking information that will change everything.
1. Chapter 1: A Reunion

**a/n: This story might get pretty violent and bloody in some of the future chapters, so if you don't like reading about violence, please do not read this story. :)**

* * *

**Chapter 1: A Reunion**

It was raining heavily outside. Every now and then a crash of thunder or a flash of lightning could be heard. Staring out of the window, Sariah could see the figures of several people attempting to hide in the shadows. She pulled the curtains shut and turned around, facing the two others who were sharing the room with her.

"They're still watching us," she told them, her tone neutral, and her face expressionless, the way she most often spoke. Sariah was a master at keeping her feelings hidden away.

Burgundy and Ethan were quiet. They'd both been fairly untalkative for the past few days. Sariah didn't blame them; it sucked being punished for something that you didn't do. Sariah glanced at Burgundy, who had her lilac eyes cast downward, occasionally flicking around the room nervously. Deciding to copy her friends, Sariah quietly hopped up onto her bed and lay down, hoping to get at least a few hours of sleep before morning.

"I wish they would just leave us alone," Ethan spoke quietly, as if afraid the figures outside in the rain would hear him.

"Yeah, me too," Sariah told him.

"Being a shapeshifter right now really sucks," he added. Sariah knew that both she and Burgundy agreed. Sariah glanced over at the purrloin shapeshifter, who currently had the ears and tail of a Pokemon. Sariah felt sorry for her friend.

About a month ago, another shapeshifter, by the name of Christian, had attacked Cilan, a boy that Sariah was quite sure Burgundy liked. Christian had the ability to become a persian, and since the claw marks of a purrloin shifter and a persian shifter look very much alike, he was able to place the blame upon Burgundy. In reality, it had been Burgundy who chased Christian off and protected Cilan. Now Cilan, Ash, and Iris were quite firmly allied with Christian, and his two close friends, Devon and Mandi.

Ash, Iris, and Cilan were in a very dangerous situation by befriending the three shifters. Christian, Devon, and Mandi were quite loyal to Team Alpha, who enjoyed using young kids in their many experiments. Kids like Sariah, Burgundy, and Ethan, who had recently learned the truth behind their past.

That night, Ethan's dreams were filled with evil shapeshifters and a giant pack of mightyena, all of which were chasing him. They would leap up into the air, biting his wings and tail, and attempting to pull him down. In the end they succeeded, and soon the beasts were swarming all over him, ripping out his feathers so he couldn't fly away again.

* * *

Ethan woke up with a groan. He'd had that dream almost every day this week. He sat up and got out of bed, walking over to the window and pushing the curtain aside just a bit so that he could peek out the window.

The sky was starting to lighten up, but it was still mostly dark outside. The street was empty, except for a small piece of paper that was fluttering down the road. Behind him, Ethan heard Sariah getting out of bed.

"You don't have to keep getting up this early," he told her. "It's not like we have drills or anything like we used to do back at headquarters. Nathan doesn't even get up until eight o'clock you know."

"I can't sleep in that late," she said, joining Ethan by the window. Her long blue hair was a tangled mess, something she often complained about in the mornings. Deciding that he wanted to annoy his friend, Ethan reached over and ruffled Sariah's hair, making it even more tangled and messy than it already was. Sariah's angry expression made him laugh.

"HEY!" she shouted furiously, punching Ethan in the arm, causing him to laugh harder, despite the pain.

"Don't touch me! I don't like being touched!" She yelled at him. "And my hair is already a problem in the morning without you making it worse!" Her deep brown eyes were filled with fury.

"Sorry," Ethan told Sariah, attempting to keep a straight face as he spoke.

"If you two are going to beat each other up, could you do it somewhere else?" Burgundy yawned and sat up, stretching her arms above her head. She blinked sleepily, as someone knocked on the bedroom door.

"Come in," Ethan said. Nathan opened the door and stepped into the room. He was a fairly tall guy, with lots of muscle, and dark brown hair and eyes. Like Ethan, he was a flying type shapeshifter, though several years older.

"You're up early," Sariah observed. Nathan smiled.

"Oh, I just heard a bit of yelling and came over to make sure that you guys weren't killing each other in here," he looked at Sariah and raised an eyebrow. She rolled her eyes.

* * *

At breakfast that morning, Nathan tossed a newspaper down on the table.

"Take a look at the front page," he told them. Burgundy picked it up first, and unfolded it. The headline was:

**Trainer Found Dead by River**

Burgundy took a moment to read the article, before placing it back on the table. Sariah and Ethan stared at her, waiting for her to explain.

"What?" She asked. "You two are literate. Read it yourself," Sariah snatched up the newspaper and summarized it for Ethan.

"Some kid was found dead not far from here. There were slash marks all over his body and his Pokemon were ripped apart," she paused and looked over at Nathan. "It sounds like something Christian would do," she told him, tossing the paper over to Ethan, who took a moment to read it.

"This sucks," he said. "This is just one more thing that Team Alpha can blame on us," he threw the newspaper down on the floor and left the table.

"I'm going for a walk," he told them. Sariah stood up and grabbed Burgundy's arm.

"We'll come with you," she said to him.

* * *

Sariah noticed that their Pokemon followed them to the park. Each shapeshifter had been given a Pokemon from Team Alpha to match the Pokemon that they could transform into. Sariah had a riolu, Burgundy had a purrloin, and Ethan had a braviary.

Upon arriving at the park, the six of them spotted a group of teens who they knew quite well.

The first one was a guy with sandy hair. He was tall and had a large persian standing tight next to him. He was good looking, the kind of guy that you expected to have a fan girl group always hovering around him. He had a mischievous glint in his eyes though, a sign that you shouldn't trust him.

The next person was a girl. She had short black hair pulled up into a high ponytail, decorated at the base with a hair clip in the shape of a bone. She was very pale skinned, and her eyes were dark and cold. On her shoulder stood her mandibuzz, who fixed its eyes upon the arriving teens.

Standing next to the girl was another guy. He had dark hair and dark eyes, with sun tanned skin. Sariah knew that he was the strongest in the group. He had a houndoom standing next to him. Houndoom snarled, showing off some sharp fangs.

"Well look who we have here," Mandi said in her high screechy voice, the voice of a mandibuzz. Her tone was cruel, yet casual. Christian stepped forward, Persian staying by his side.

"It's the shapeshifter delinquent club," Devon said. Christian and Mandi snickered. Sariah felt her hands curl into fists. Mandi smirked at her former friend.

Ethan and Burgundy moved closer to her. A growl came from Purrloin, who had her tail curled around Burgundy's ankle.

"Get lost," Sariah spoke with authority to the shifters in front of her.

"Hmm, no thanks," Mandi replied. "I think we'll stick around for a while," her laugh echoed through the park. Sariah felt her instinct tell her to leap at Mandi and attack. Sariah ignored her instinct.

"Why are you here, other than to spread more false rumors about us?" Burgundy shouted at Christian. He smiled fondly at her, as if she were a small child. Burgundy scowled back at him.

"What rumors could you be talking about? You must agree with me that spreading rumors is not exactly my style," he narrowed his eyes at Ethan, who stepped forward.

"I suggest you leave now, before I decide that I want to _rip you head off of your shoulders,"_ Ethan clenched his fists, and swung at Christian.

"Stop it!" Sariah told him. "We're leaving," she turned around and started to walk away, Burgundy and the Pokemon at her side, but Christian's next words stopped her.

"Don't you know that it's dangerous to turn you back on a predator when he's hunting?" Sariah had just enough time to pull Burgundy out of the way before Christian, in the form of a persian, came down where she had been standing. Sariah let her riolu ears and tail appear, and then she leaped at Christian.

As her foot connected with the side of the Persian's head, Sariah felt talons rip into her side. She turned her head and saw Mandi's Mandibuzz swerve away, blood dripping from its claws. While she was distracted, Christian knocked her down onto her back and pinned her to the ground. He bared his fangs at her. Mandi spoke.

"I think it's time for us to go now, but don't worry, we'll be back soon to take you to Team Alpha Headquarters." Her voice was falsely sweet. Christian jumped off of Sariah and ran back over to his friends.

"We'll tell the others you said hello," Mandi said before turning away. "Oh, and by the way, lover boy hasn't been doing so well lately," she turned her head and smirked at Sariah, who was slowly sitting up, fury filling her eyes.

"If you dare hurt any of our friends I'll kill you myself!" she shouted. Mandi laughed.

"I think it's a little too late for that Sariah," Mandi ran off, following Devon and Christian. Sariah pressed her hand against her side. When she pulled it away, her fingers were covered in blood.


	2. Chapter 2: Remembering the Past

**a/n: Yes! I have completed chapter two! Exciting stuff will be happening soon!**

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**Chapter 2: Remembering the Past**

"Mandibuzz has some pretty sharp talons," Sariah remarked staring at the blood on her hand, and trying to ignore the horrible pain in her side. Ethan kneeled beside her, staring at the bleeding gashes.

"We need to get you back to Nathan, he'll know how to heal these," Ethan helped Sariah stand up. She wobbled dizzily as she did so, and she could feel blood running down her side. Karete, her riolu, rushed forward and stood by her side. His red eyes were filled with worry.

"I'm okay Karete," Sariah told him. Karete nodded and ran off, probably to alert Nathan of everything that had happened.

Ethan stepped forward and lifted Sariah into his arms. She immediately began to complain.

"We can get back faster this way," he told her, and began to sprint out of the park. Sariah muttered something and folded her arms across her chest. Next to Ethan, Burgundy snickered at Sariah's discomfort.

"Ha ha," she told Sariah, who glared at her. Burgundy smirked.

An hour or so later, Sariah was lying in bed, her side filled with crooked stiches, and wrapped with bandages.

"Hey Nathan!" she shouted as the boy passed the bedroom. "Your stiches suck!" He just rolled his eyes and kept walking. Sariah sighed, and pulled the sheets over her head. Moments later, Sariah felt something leap up onto her bed, and soon Karete was curled up next to her.

_You're thinking about him aren't you? _He said. Sariah rolled her eyes.

"I'm trying not to, but now you've brought him up, so yes I am,"

_What do you think Mandi meant? _ Sariah shrugged, her expression growing slightly worried.

"I hope they're all okay," she whispered.

_Yeah, me too. They're strong though, and with a little more time we can rescue all of them."_

"Yeah," Sariah responded. Karete continued, but Sariah wasn't listening to him. Instead, she was thinking about her last days with Team Alpha.

* * *

"Wake up Sariah! Wake up!" Sariah groaned and opened her eyes. Two girls, one with red-brown curly hair and the other with short dark brown hair sat on the edge of her bed. Both had matching chocolate eyes filled to the brim and overflowing with excitement. Sariah quickly remembered. Today _they_ were supposed to get here. She groaned again and sat up.

"I really don't like waking up this early guys," Sariah looked over at the clock on the wall. 4:30 a.m.

"Come on Sariah! The boys will be here I half an hour!" Bryn's voice became high pitched when she said the word 'boys' making her sound very much like the eevee she could become.

"They're just stupid guys," Sariah told them. The two girls' eyes became wide.

"They might be really cute!" Tylla said, pushing her curly hair back.

"Go away. I still have an hour of sleep left before I'm forced to go to the stupid meet and greet," Sariah lay back down

Sariah was not excited for the arrival of the six boys. She was perfectly fine with the five other shapeshifter girls who trained here with her, but guys? No. Sariah had never before met any shapeshifter guys. Mandi and Burgundy, Sariah's closest friends, weren't very excited either. The other three however, Tylla the vulpix, Bryn the eevee, and Emily the deerling, were very excited.

There was a knock on the bedroom door.

"Who is it?" Sariah asked. The door swung open and Burgundy stepped into the room, annoyance evident in her expression.

"Time to get up," she told Sariah.

"They're here?"

"Yep,"

Minutes later the six girls were all assembled in the main training room. At the moment all of the equipment was pushed up against the walls, providing space for battling.

"I'm going to destroy whoever I battle," Mandi boasted, tightening her ponytail and coming to stand between Burgundy and Sariah.

The door at the other end of the room opened, and in walked a tall man wearing a long laboratory coat. He had steel gray eyes, and long black hair pulled back into a ponytail. Behind him stood two guards, and next to him stood a massive mightyena named Mitaro.

Brios walked through the room, coming to a stop in front of the six girls.

"In a few moments the six boys who will be joining you in training shall arrive. They have each been brought from separate Team Alpha laboratories throughout the world. I expect you all to treat them as you do each other," he stared at Sariah as he said those last few words. Mandi spoke up.

"Don't worry, I promise to be just as cruel to all the boys just as I am to all the girls." Brios glared at Mandi, who gave a screechy laugh. The door opened again, and a Team Alpha official stepped in.

"Wonderful," Sariah said, sarcasm filling her voice. Brios ignored her and told the man to send them in. The six boys started filing in, one by one, none of them saying a word. The first two, Christian and Devon, Sariah immediately distrusted. The next boy, with messy blond hair, seemed to be okay. Brios introduced him as Ethan.

After that came Aaron and Skylar, two guys with trouble written all over them. They smiled and waved as they entered together, breaking the one by one pattern.

The last shifter to enter the room had gray eyes and blond hair that reached his shoulders. He acted as if he didn't have a care in the world. Brios introduced the last boy as Trip. Burgundy tried to stifle a laugh.

"Who names their kid Trip?" She whispered to Mandi and Sariah.

"Maybe he trips a lot?" Sariah suggested. Mandi gave the two an annoyed look.

"You two don't have the right to make fun of other people's names, _Burgundy Wine_ and _Sarah Mariah_," Sariah glared at Mandi.

"That's not my name!" she snapped. Mandi smiled her creepy smile.

Brios asked the girls to introduce themselves. Sariah, Mandi, and Burgundy simultaneously scowled, causing Aaron and Skylar to burst out laughing. Sariah decided to get introductions over with.

"I'm Sariah," she said.

"Why don't you tell us something about yourself," Brios told her.

"_Fine!_" she snapped. "I'm Sariah and I think this is stupid!"

Introductions continued.

"I'm Burgundy, and I hate you all,"

"I'm Mandi, and I like dead things,"

"I'm Tylla, and I think Mandi is weird,"

"I'm Bryn, and I totally agree with Tylla!"

"I'm Emily, and I'm quite sure that I'm the only sane one here,"

The girls began to laugh and nod in agreement with the things the others had said. The boys just looked at them like they were crazy, which was partly true. Brios spoke again.

"I have decided that instead of testing your battle skills against one another, we'll just let each of you get to know each other a bit more,"

"Why?" Sariah complained. She knew that she was sounding whiny, but she didn't care. She had things that she'd rather be doing, like reading or singing. Brios glared at her in annoyance.

"Sariah, you will be paired up with Trip for the next hour," Sariah scowled.

"Burgundy with Christian, Mandi with Ethan, Emily with Devon, Tylla and Bryn with Aaron and Skylar. Girls, I want each of you to take your partner and show them around the building. I suggest you take the time to get to know each other," with that being said, Brios strode out of the room, Mitaro and the guards following close behind.

Hesitantly, everyone began to get with their assigned partner. Even the usually bouncy Tylla and Bryn appeared nervous.

Sariah rolled her eyes and started walking over to Trip, who glanced her way and then stared up at the ceiling. Sariah figured he was probably thinking: why did I get stuck with _her_?

"So, what do you want to see first?" she asked him. He looked back at her, and their eyes met. That's when instinct told Sariah something weird.

Sariah didn't believe in love at first sight. Or true love and all that other nonsense. Heck, she wasn't even sure she believed in love, but instinct was clearly telling Sariah that the two of them belonged together. Soul mates? Sariah was ready to punch a wall. Hard.

Sariah could feel her face growing really warm, and she knew that it was turning red. She would have felt embarrassed and crazy if she hadn't noticed Trip quickly looking away as his face became just as red as Sariah's was. Wonderful.

"This is awkward," Sariah stated.

"Yeah, just a little bit," was Trip's reply.

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**a/n: So that was chapter two. Please review!**


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